The present invention relates to liquid cleaning compositions.
Liquid cleaning compositions are used more widely than non-liquid cleaning compositions, such as granules, pastes, gels, and mulls. Consumers favor liquid cleaning compositions for convenience and appearance. Liquid cleaning compositions are easily measurable, readily dissolvable in water, and are capable of being applied to heavily stained areas in concentrated solution for pre-treatment. Furthermore, a clear or opaque liquid with a particular color is aesthetically appealing to consumers. In addition, liquid cleaning compositions can incorporate many performance enhancing ingredients that cannot withstand dry operation while eliminating certain environmentally hazardous ingredients, such as phosphate builder.
However, conventional liquid cleaning compositions contain undesirably large percentages of water, which increase the cost of packaging and shipping due to more energy use and handling efforts. Furthermore, the conventional liquid cleaning compositions have mediocre or poor performance in cold or warm water or without agitation. Heat and agitation during cleaning not only consumes more energy, but also increases wear and damage to substrates, especially fabric.
Thus, there is still a strong need for a liquid cleaning composition that is effective even though packaged in a concentrated form. There is also a strong and unmet need for such a liquid composition that has an improved performance in cold or warm water. Moreover, there is also a need for a liquid composition that is more environmentally friendly.
There is also a strong and unmet need for a liquid cleaning composition that can be easily dispensed by a small, handheld pump dispenser. Previous attempts at providing a pumpable detergent generally used a “condiment type” dispenser on a very large reservoir (due to the large amount of detergent required per washload), making the container overly-tall, heavy (when full), and generally difficult to handle. Moreover, prior art formulations were designed to have a high viscosity for various reasons including: providing the appearance of having a higher concentration of actives, less product runs out if the bottle tips over, and providing the appearance that the product will adhere better to the surface to be cleaned. However, the higher viscosity would make the product more difficult to pump. This alone may be the reason why handheld pumpable laundry detergent containers are not presently on the market.